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If you are thinking of starting a side hustle I will go through something I do and then go into selling directly on Amazon.
I am an Amazon Assoicate, what this means is I get a commission for every product that is bought through my links within 24 hours of a click. Amazon Associates have a 24 hour cookie that they place on a visitors computer so that when the visitor clicks and returns within 24 hours no matter what they buy you will get a commission.
The Amazon Associates Affilate Program is one of the largest affiliate networks in the world that helps content creators, publishers, and website owners monetize their traffic. I prefer to use my blogs and websites and share my posts to my large following on LinkedIn. To monetize your website or blog takes time and you will not be an overningt success.
To be honest you need a lot of traffic to begin with, as the click through ratio is only 1-3 percent, so out of a hundred clicks you will have 1 – 3 visitors that will convert into a commission, so if a click is worth £10 for example you will get £10 to £30.
The beauty about Amazon affiliate marketing is you do not need a website or blog as you can share you links directly via email or social media platforms like Facebook which is less effort.
One also has to take into account the commission rates on a product, not all product commissions are equal.
Why waste your efforts promoting something that is low in commissions when you can devote your time doing the same thing with higher commission rates.
On the other hand instead of being an affiliate you could directly sell on Amazon, you do not neccessarily have to have any inventory, website or blog you can dropship or use Amazon FBA program. However what do you sell that is popular on Amazon? Here is a link to a list that changes every hour of products that are popular on Amazon and any given time:
You do need to consider your marketing strategies and some people as well as selling on Amazon sell their products via online stores that they have created themselves or had designed for them. Remember you need to do a lot of SEO to get your website blog on the first page of a search engines and you need exact match searchable keywords and phrases domain names.
I wrote on 11th October 2020 about a purchase I made from Argos. Now I cannot point the finger entirely on this retailer (As most probably all appliance retailers do not go above or beyond their call of duty) and because I used Argos the majority of my stress is related to Argos in this instance.
Moving on just over two months later I finally get my Gas Cooker delivered. Not my first choice but none the less it was delivered, You have to remember I also paid for installation and recycling.
So me not being none the wiser assumed I would now have my cooker installed ready for me to cook my first meal this evening. You can just imagine the atmostphere when one of the engineers said the dreaded words “Excuse me, but you have a problem”. You could cut the air with a knife when he said this and I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I was in shock what Argos said. Basically I could not have my new cooker installed because of safety regulations I needed a splash back and my socket which I have had for over 20 years was too low and was in the way of the ‘Hot Zone’.
Surely they should be able to install an appliance and if anything happened it would be on the onus of the consumer not the retailer?
Now I do have a splash back tiled area but by all accounts it was too low and I needed another row of tiles.
I was livid as no where does it mention on Argos’s website anything about the height, width of the ‘Hot Zone’. One literally has to scour the internet to find this information and for someone like myself who has no clue about safety regulations, why would I need to know this?, I do not rent out properties I am a private resident.
It should be up to the retailer to point out all the things one should do prior to purchasing an appliance.
But like with any business they do not care past the point you hand over your hard earned cash. All they want at the end of the day is a sale and if the sale then becomes a problem, it is not their problem but yours.
You can imagine my food has a use by date, tradesman are hard to arrange under our current climate so my food will perish because ARGOS did not point out what the consumer needed to know prior to making a purchase. All they asked was what socket I had and that was it.
I am fuming 🤬.
So for the purpose of this blog and after my experience I had to do some research to forewarn anyone buying a cooker, Gas or Electric to read the information I have now found out and is listed below.
I cannot even claim on my insurance as this I would assume is a ‘grey area and hard to argue’.
HOT ZONE.
The ‘Hot Zone’ by all accounts consists of an area directly above your cooker or hob. Before installation please make sure that this area is free from flammable items including wood, wallpaper, plug sockets, wiring or an overhanging boiler.
‘Electrical Rating’ Another thing to consider if you are changing from Gas to Electric you need to have your cooker hardwired to a 32 amp socket. Hardwiring is going to cost an arm and a leg. However if it is a standalone Gas for Gas (like for Like Gas) a 13 Amp socket should suffice. Although if you’re upgrading to a newer model, you may find there’s a considerable difference in the power needed. Prior to purchase, you can check the amp rating in the product specifications found in the item’s user manual.
So now consumers need to download the user manuals before purchacing their appliances, by all accounts.
All cookers need an ‘Aluminium Splashback’. Well if that is the case they should be sold together with the cookers and not have to be purchased seperately or the retailer makes it clear to the consumer (it is either a manufacturer problem or the retailer lets the consumer know in advance, should they need a spashback or not)!
This whole ordeal has been ahorrendous nightmare from beginning to end and I am glad I do not have to do this again for the next few years.
This information I have shared should be mandantory on every retailers website and not just on a few Gas Engineers sites.
Gas Supply. Make sure there an existing gas supply to the installation point, and a 3 pin electric socket or cooker point within 1.5m of the installation location? If you don’t have a gas supply available, and want to use Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), make sure the product you’re buying is LPG-convertible.
Again Something Argos Failed To Mention, although I do have a Window and have Good Ventilation, if you are installing a Gas Cooker you must have adequate ventilation. The consumer needs to know this.
It is not hard to add a few lines of text and this information onto a page of a website.
Ventilation
Gas safety regulations specify that there must be adequate ventilation in the room where the appliance is to be installed. If you don’t have a window or door to the outside world in your kitchen, think about opting for a suitable electric model instead.
VENTILATION MEASUREMENTS
Final Thoughts:Had I had known this information in advance I would have been better prepared.
Use this checklist before you order an Appliance. Make sure that:
1). Make sure you remove anything that may catch fire, any combustible items from the hot zone.
2). Double check that there is an existing gas or electric supply to the place you want your appliance installed.
3). Make sure you have a 3 pin electric socket or a big red switch within 1.5 meters of where your new cooking appliance is going to live.
4). You know where your gas/electric meters and fuse box are, as the drivers will need access.
5). You have double-checked there is suitable ventilation (a window or door to the outside world), in the room where your new cooking appliance is going to live.
6). That you have sufficient funds in your meter for the work to be carried out. (I do not have a meter but for those that do you need to have enough money to cover all installation time).
Will Argos compensate me for the stress I have endured, the food that has and will be perished whilst trying to sort out this mess?, I hardly doubt it, but if they did I would (possibly) consider putting in a good word, after all retailers need all the help they can at the moment. However if there is silence they will see the power of social media at its finest.
#Argos #ArgosRetailer #SimonRoberts
Want to make a complaint, go straight to the top, Apparantly Argos is owned by Sainsburysand the CEO is Simon Roberts.
Ever heard the saying “he could sell snow to the Eskimos“, this one happens to be my favorite but there are also others see below.
The meaning is the description of someone who is a clever and persuasive salesperson, such that they could sell something to people who have no need or use for it. As in the case of ‘Belle Delphine’ ‘GameGirl Bath Water’ which is trending right now and how she made $10M selling bath water to her followers. No, I am not going to promote her water 🤣.
(The phrase ‘selling ice to the Eskimo’s alludes to the various indigenous peoples of the traditionally cold, snowy northern circumpolar regions of the globe, who would have no shortage of and or no need to buy) snow or ice. However even Eskimos would not say no to Gelato or Sorbets for dessert, just a thought I wonder 🤔.
Other terms uses for sales techniques are:
Sell ice to the Eskimos
Sell a cape to Superman.
Sell hay to a farmer.
Sell wood to a forest.
Sell religion to the Pope.
Sell underwear to a nudist.
Sell rope to a free climber.
Sell a two-wheeled bike to a unicyclist.
Sell crutches to an Olympic sprinter.
Sell a cage to a lion.
“My take on this is that a web designer contacts a web designer to see if they need help building a website or an internet marketer contacts an internet marketer to see if they need any help with internet marketing”.
TYPES OF MARKETING STRATEGIES.
There are in fact 41 different types of Marketing of which I will touch on persuasive marketing in this post.
Depending on how you view this if you try and sell a product or service to someone that may not necessarily need it, this is called persuasive emotional marketing, such as Coke Cola for example:
PERSUASIVE MARKETING
PERSUASIVE MARKETING
Persuasion marketing is a marketing strategy that manipulates the human mind into thinking they desire the ideology of the product or service that is being marketed. It is the psychology of the power of persuasion that alters our emotions. When advertising companies use this strategy to make the product or service desirable going as far as to seduce the audience into thinking they need it.
‘Belle Delphone’ used her body as a tool to persuade her audience that the water she bathed in was a sexual extension of herself.
Many have criticized that at $22 dollar a bottle, no one in their right mind should have bought it. But people have fetishes and the porn industry is big business, She gained her audience by setting up an ‘only fans’ account where you pay a paid subscription to join and the models show parts of their bodies in exchange for money.
Providing there is a market you can sell pretty much anything to anyone nowadays if you advertise your product or service well, regardless if it is by traditional methods or digital.
Grow your followers and you will have a platform to sell.
What Electrical Appliance Retailers won’t tell you before purchasing delivery, installation and recycling.
When purchasing your next cooker do take these things into consideration when a Company like Argos offers you delivery, installation and recycling as I have recently found out.
I recently bought a cooker from Argos with Delivery, Installation and Recycling. I am having to wait six weeks for delivery.
Anyway I get a text message off Argos a week or so later after my purchase, with a survey to fill out. My current appliance is Gas but I have bought Electric Free Standing Cooker. So you would think that in the wording “installation and recycling” would mean just that, but wait for it, it does not mean that at all unless you are buying a “like for like”appliance gas for gas or electric for electric.
Now they charge extra for delivery, installation and recycling costing me £99, yet had I known at the time of buying I would have bought “like for like”but if I was to cancel my order now and buy another cooker it would be a further six weeks of waiting for a delivery.
On top of this to fit a 32amp socket and get a gas engineer out it is going to cost me well over £100.00 and as a gesture of goodwill Argos refunded me £20, what a joke.
Since writing this post I have had an update yesterday 16/10/20 where I had a quote and was told to fit a 32amp wall socket one needs to re-wire the cables that run underneath the flooring which will be anything from £500 upwards. I just wanted to cry. I have since ordered a Gas cooker as I am not going to be spending £500 plus to rewire my home.
They should tell you these things before you buy an appliance.
So as you can imagine I am fuming.
***If you look at the screenshots it does not mention anything about “like for like” and when I pay for installation I expect just that without any excuses.
This is against trading standards to offer installation, take your money and then say you cannot do it because your appliance must be like for like. I told her I would be writing about Argos and all she offered me was £20 wow.
I am not happy.
On another note if you need a 32 amp wall socket fitted (all electric cookers need to be hardwired with an already installed 32amp socket) image below:
On the whole I have been a loyal customer of Tesco’s for many years with relatively little issues until now. I normally shop online on a regular basis because both my daughter and I have disabilities.
I am not targeting this post entirely at Tescos, as all Grocery Supermarkets should follow my example.
I am just writing about my own personal experience with Tesco but I am sure all other grocery supermarkets have the same problem and are following the bright spark that makes the rules.
So with the Coronavirus Covid-19 pandemic I noticed Tesco struggling to keep up with demand of some of my usual products such as antibacterial-disinfectant, hand wash and hand gel for many weeks now. This was not my grieviance as I understood people had been bulk buying.
I would have already prior to the pandemic had a policy in place not to be able to purchase more than 3 items of any one product, as the store is a retailer not a wholesaler, but for some reason I hear Supermarkets are being less lenient again. do they never learn?
Its not the end of the world, we are not fighting for food.
If you want to buy in bulk go to a wholesaler, not that they are taking on any new registrations at this present time due to people thinking that this is the end of the world and we are facing some sort of zombie apocaplypse.
Lawmakers and CEO’s
Just like every thing else CEO’s & MP’s do not think until after the event. Similar if there was a catastrophic event the law would only kick in after the fact.
Businesses and Governments should think outside the box to have scenarios of what could happen and put improvisions in place so that if the inevitable should ever happen they would be prepared and covered.
So moving on I received an email from Tesco a few days ago that they will not be charging me my monthly delivery fee due to no delivery slots and are only delivering to the vulnerable:
I then had another email from the CEO of Tesco saying due to the pandemic they will be only delivering to the vulnerable.
people with cancer who are undergoing active chemotherapy
people with lung cancer who are undergoing radical radiotherapy
people with cancers of the blood or bone marrow such as leukaemia, lymphoma or myeloma who are at any stage of treatment
people having immunotherapy or other continuing antibody treatments for cancer
people having other targeted cancer treatments which can affect the immune system, such as protein kinase inhibitors or PARP inhibitors
people who have had bone marrow or stem cell transplants in the last 6 months, or who are still taking immunosuppression drugs
People with severe respiratory conditions including all cystic fibrosis, severe asthma and severe COPD.
People with rare diseases and inborn errors of metabolism that significantly increase the risk of infections (such as SCID, homozygous sickle cell).
People on immunosuppression therapies sufficient to significantly increase risk of infection.
Women who are pregnant with significant heart disease, congenital or acquired.
So I decided to reply but had to hunt for the email as I tried phoning customer service and got cut off several times, meaning they are not taking calls, by having auto responders in place. The email is towards the end of this thread and I got a response back from them today which is laughable.
The whole point of isolation is to try to contain the virus, so you would think that Tesco and all the rest of the grocery stores should follow suit and employ more staff (considering many people have lost their jobs right now) and have them answer calls, have online chat and answer emails.
On top of this stop people coming to the stores, full stop.
Cross Contamination.
By someone coming into a store there is a chance of cross contamination as someone that coughs could easily transmit the virus onto a product packaging and have it airborne for some one else to inhale.
“The only people in the stores would be the staff and they also would less likely catch the virus from cross contamination. But the store managers and the CEO’s are not OCD like me so they will not be thinking this way”.
As for the elderly who only shop for one or two minimal items or people that do not normally buy online, humanity should love thy neighbour and give a helping hand meaning if you live in close proximity to an elderly person or someone who does not know the first thing about shopping online you could order on their behalf it is not difficult, you could combine it into your shop and split the cost after, or set up an account for them.
If there are so many staff supposedly employed then they should be able to stock, stack, pick, pack, chat online, answer calls, emailand deliver How about giving me 10% bonus to organise your business management as it needs re-organising.
So like I said in the beginning my daughter has an auto immune disease and suffers with multiple sclerosis, I am her mother and her carer and she has a low immune system due to treatment she has hadsix months ago.
So therefore physically venturing out to buy food in store I have a greater chance of contracting the disease from cross contamitation, which I could potentially pass on to my daughter. I do not know what sickly individual has coughed and spluttered on a product I have just picked up. Also I could be inhaling someone’s airborne germs having a greater risk on contracting the disease and then bringing it home.
I am not alone when it comes to people who cannot shop instore there are many disabled people in the UK 13.9 million disabled people to be exact but who’s counting: https://www.scope.org.uk/media/disability-facts-figures/ and not every one is clinically vulnerable as listed in the 6 points the government have laid out, some people cannot walk or lift/carry large shopping orders and some have mental illness issues and cannot shop for themselves. So for Tesco to send an email saying the Government have given a list of 110,000 vulnerable people what does that mean exactly?, I know I cited a guide from the Government website earlier but is it not the the case that every one is vulnerable? It does not mention the elderly, disabled, mental health patients and domestic abuse victims and not everyone has been diagnosed with underlying conditions as men more so than women do not like visiting their GPs hence that is why more men than women are dying from the Coronavirus Covid-19 pandemic because of this reason and not being diagnosed for any underlying problems.https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/apr/07/coronavirus-hits-men-harder-evidence-risk
All people healthy and disabled are vulnerable because of cross contamination.
The less you spend outside your own home the better, as this is called “herd immunisation”.
….and this is their reply in an email that states they cannot reply to emails
and that I should try phoning customer service where they do not mention there is an autoresponder and no one is answering calls.
But the person replied to me (Name Omitted) by email today even though I emailed Tesco yesterday, so this was not an auto responder email as I would have had it instantaneously yesterday. So she could have answered my question, but chose not to. Therefore I have had to resort to other means to get my point across.
I will put it to the test when I send another email today with a link to this post and see if she responds, we will then see if this is just an autoresponder and if my blog post gets noticed. I will also be contacting the CEO of Tesco on Linkedin so that he can respond directly to me.
Do not brush customers off, you need them for the future.
Cross contamination is my main priorityand concern. I am not saying this for myself, I am saying this for all the population of the UK on the whole, if you have a person who is infected and comes into the store showing no signs but picks things up and perhaps puts them back, you are automatically cross contaminating. Self service baskets will be cross contaminated, the area where you put your food down in checkout will get cross contaminated, your food/produce will be cross contaminated and the carrier bags will also be cross contaminated.
Apparantly there is a right way to cough and sneeze and I beg to differ, remember I am the OCD expert here. As the photo suggests one should cough and sneeze into the crease of their elbow or back to their hand.
Coughing and Sneezing….
But imagine the scenario unfolding you have just sneezed into the crease of your elbow, not every one is going to have a bare arm thats No: 1, No: 2, germs can live on garments for several hours: Robert Amler, dean of the School of Health Sciences and Practice at New York Medical College and a former CDC chief medical officer, told HuffPost that the duration of the virus depends on the fabric, as some materials are more porous than others. https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/how-long-coronavirus-live-clothing-washing
By sneezing or coughing into an elbow that is not bare and cannot be immediately washed one is potentially cross contaminating, as someone can easly touch your arm, even you unwittingly can touch yourself without thinking, as what occured an hour ago may not neccessarily be still be playing on ones mind to erradicate an hour later. If say you are wearing a coat and you have sneezed or coughed into the crease of the elbow and you take it off and lay it next to another coat owned by another person you have just cross contaminated. You could perhaps throw the coat over an armchair – cross contaminating the arm chair. Only an OCD person can teach you this.
Hence staff that have been screened to be healthy should be the ONLY people that are in the store.
By eliminating the consumer from entering the store, one potentially is containing the virus and flattening the curve. By allowing the customer to shop freely one is potentially opening a can of worms.
I will update on the post as and when I get more news.
Update 14/04/2020
On top of the fact there are no deliveries and one cannot contact the store by email or phone for love or money, without resorting to physically having to visit a store and queue to make a complaint, I am on the verge of screaming right now as I have only noticed 2 transactions going out of my account for the same amount of money.
At the time of updating my post earlier today I had not heard back from my email test the other day as I mentioned in my post at the beginning to see if in fact they actually do send out autoresponders or not and have sent another email today. However a few moments ago I received an email once again saying they do not respond to emails and prompted me to go to their online support FAQ, which frankly is no good to me as I need to speak with a human.
I have already showed this post to my MP Jo Stevens and Tesco via their email but have held off contacting the CEO until today and am curious how they will respond to this today if at all.
You can see the screenshot of the email content below:
I do not know what the maximum amount of transactions one can spend on self service but if it is say £40 and that went out twice the customer would have had £80 leave their account instead of £40. Imagine if this an elderly person how this would effect them and the stress it would cause.
The icing on the cake the contactless option obviously did not work forcing you to touch the keypad which is defeating the object of containing the virus.
Furthermore my daughter went out to do a shop yesterday thinking she was helping me as I could not go as I have a business to run and considering despite her disability, she was taking a risk having to go in-store let alone have to touch the keypad lol & omg….Under normal circumstances I do all the shopping but the one time my daughter went out she got charged twice and she risked her health at the same time by doing so.
I am now, shall we say very angry and still no closer to resolving the issues I am facing so only God knows what other people are facing…….
Absolutely Fuming!!
People are blaming the coronavirus covid-19 for just about everything that is going wrong with the way businesses are run, Coronavirus Covid-19 does not affect common sense to employ call handlers and online chat support workers.
My business is running smoothly so a corporate giant such as Tesco should not have a problem, yet they do.
This is now directed for the CEO of Tesco and any other Supermarket that has not got their act together !!!!
UK are their own worst enemies the moment they see snow the country comes to a grinding halt and now that we are faced with the pandemic all hell has broke loose and everyone is running around like headless chickens and blaming covid-19 for their bad management skills. In business you should have a Plan A, a Plan B and even a Plan C. Yet for some reason it seems as everyone is not organised, yet they will try to defend themselves by saying that they are when clearly they are not.
Being Stuck at home through no fault of your own and forced to be isolated eventually becomes no fun. If you are fed up of watching films and re-runs and feel that each day is getting longer and more monotonous, why not start a blog or set a website which you can monetise. Having a second income will tide you over whilst your twidling your thumbs waiting for the lockdown to be lifted.
I have just listed some new domain names that came in today on my other blog: https://ukdomainbrokers.ukwebsitedesigners.co.uk/?p=875 but you can browse our extended market of very valuable exact match searchable keyword domain names by visiting: https://cymrumarketing.com/keyworddomains.html Consider starting a dropshipping business where you do not have to handle the inventory and all you need to do is just list the inventory and do a little bit of work (about 1 -2 hours per day).
We will teach you how to dropship from the comfort of your home and we are currently offering free web design, marketing and seo for the first 3 months and offering to lease any domain name of your choosing providing it is available after a free consultation from us.
You do not have to lay out one single penny and we will start you off.
So what are you waiting for?, do some research on what you want to do, make notes and contact us.
An example of business isolation during lockdown may be a driving instructor, electrician, or a factory production company to just name just a few, so what do you do when you are on lockdown and in isolation how do you turn this around? You obviously do not want to lose your customers how do you generate more business and most importantly how do you survive and continue paying your staff that is the big question.
Firstly, the UK Government has grants and loans available that they are giving to businesses in need of help.
Secondly, defer production and explain to your customers situation, be transparent, and in order to secure business further down the line give incentives. I know you may be already finding finances hard but remember you have the business already established, you just need to postpone it for a little while and for new customers give them special offers so that you can secure their business.
Remember keep safe and don’t try to break the rules as you may lose your license or get fined, Sports Direct has already suffered public condemnation for needlessly trying to stay open and pubs who continue to trade in Lockins are liable to have their licenses taken off them.
Conduct daily morning meetings with your workers and give them motivation and inspiration to work. We can become very complacent in our own homes and have distractions that can easily send us astray. Workers need to stay focused and need to have daily tasks set for them with goals they need to achieve and report on.
When you have automatic recurring costs that you charge your customers, consider suspending the costs and giving them credit for future business. Work out your cash flow for the next few months and refrain from spending on unnecessary subscriptions and services, try to minimize your spending and evaluate your overheads as a whole and see where you can cut costs to the minimum. Discuss with your bank your situation and see if they can help you with extended loans or get government grants that can tide you over.
The government is bringing in new measures to assist small businesses, freelancers, and sole traders. Do keep up to speed on what assistance you are able to claim. If you have an accountant speak to them about any financial advice, they can give you, after all that’s what they are there for.
Secure your future:
Going back to the example of say driving instructors offer special offers like book your bulk 40 lessons now and get 6 -10 lessons free with lessons resuming in April for example. I am being optimistic the lockdown will be lifted in April.
Electricians can book your appointment now with work to be carried out in April with no call-out charge only if you use the code: covid19 and book now for example and the offer is only available for advanced bookings.
If you are a production company waive all charges in order to secure your business give incentives that is the key.
The public mindset will be altered over the next year or so, therefore you need to find ways to reassure your customers and give them a reason to use you. Marketing campaigns and advertising are going to be the main factors in order to generate new business. Consider what you need to do in order to drive business. LinkedIn is a good way to start advertising, but you need a lot of connections or know of someone that has a lot of connections. The alternative is to consider pay-per-click advertising such as Google AdWords, Facebook Ads, and LinkedIn Sponsor Ads.
Conclusion
***Stay positive. Every crisis eventually passes, position yourself for growth when it does.
The government is in talks on “Operation Cobra” to move from stage “phase” to stage “delay”. This should be from immediate effect. If schools and colleges are being closed in the “Republic of Ireland” then, schools and colleges in England, Scotland and Wales should follow suit promptly.
People such as the elderly, people with underlying conditions and people with low immune systems should stay at home. full stop.
Grocery shopping should be done online for home delivery. If you can avoid going out then stay at home.
Its not just the sick that need to be isolated it is the vulnerable as well.
People have a mindset of “it won’t happen to them” are just plain stupid and ignorant, as imagine if it did happen to them, then they have just put their family and friends, work colleagues at risk also.
Do not be complacent as I am reading on many group chats, do not risk your life or others.
Symptoms to look out for are:
a high temperature
a new, continuous cough
Do not go to a GP surgery, pharmacy or hospital.
You do not need to contact 111 to tell them you’re staying at home.
However I have read that you won’t contract the virus form packaging and food on the NHS website, which is a contradiction as germs linger on packaging and food, hence why is the whole world going mad buying surface sprays. From the Germ Expert clean all packing and food as set out below…………Better to be safe than sorry!!
Panic Buying – what is all this about??, its not the end of the world and people should just shop more responsibly………….You don’t need a years supply of toilet paper or antibacterial products. You can double up by all means but not be stupid about it and leave the rest of the world without hand gel for example. I know manufacturers are having problems sourcing plastic bottles so obviously it causing delays in manufacturing and shipment. Do not be selfish people. Even I, whom has ‘OCD’ do not buy in bulk apart from my disposable gloves which come in packs of 10 boxes straight from the manufacturer but other than that I use antiseptic disinfectant products sparingly not over use them. I use as and when required, two litres or 4 x 500ml usually lasts me a month.
People who can work from home should work from home, everyone has a computer nowadays so there is no excuse there unless of course you are working in a factory and are manufacturing and packing goods or a trades person, then a safe plan of action should be implemented. Schools can have online tutoring where students have to login, no excuse there either.
Obviously factories and tradesmen have an obstacle to overcome. People in factories and tradesmen should wear protective PPE clothing and use PPE equipment – https://www.hse.gov.uk/toolbox/ppe.htm Companies such as Accountants, Solicitors, Insurers etc, have to just tread caution and should have hand sanitiser on all entry points and clean door handles regularly.
Its not just about washing hands its also about touching surfaces and products that have been touched by other people such as, door handles, pens, desks, computers, touch pads, ATM machines, everyday products and cashetc, it all has germs.
I suffer from contaminationOCD so you could say i’m an expert on germ contamination.
All goods you buy in a shop has been handled by another person before you.Fruit and Veg is another example which you can wash with a mild solution of diluted antibacterial washing up detergent and water. (make sure you rinse thoroughly). Taps on sinks and soap dispensers, door handles all have germs. I personally when I handle anything wear disposable gloves, I go through over a thousand pairs a month even in my home, on good days.
What we take for granted and touched by some else other than yourself should be sanitised.
If you make sure you thoroughly rinse your fruit and veg after you have washed them, then it will not give you adverse tummy problems or effect your health in anyway. Besides I would rather clean my fruit and veg by this method rather than risk contamination of any germs. Veg you can boil and that itself will kill germs. Tins and packets should be cleaned using diluted antibacterial washing up liquid and products in paper packaging should be wiped over with a slightly damp antibacterial wipe or diluted antibacterial washing up liquid solution saturated sponge or cloth. Raw meat bacteria obviously gets killed at high cooking temperatures, (so there are no worries there), but make sure to not cross contaminate and keep raw meat on the bottom shelf away from cooked meat and other products such as dairy etc.
Eating out – I have started and this is before covid-19 came out, having an anxiety of eating out using the restaurants own cutlery, I have now invested in my own travel cutlery that I carry around with me. Drinking from glasses I always watch where the waitress holds the glass so that I do not touch the glass in the same place, if anything something I have adopted of late is to get a napkin and cover the glass with the napkin so that I can hold the glass indirectly. I also use my own travel metal straw so that my lips do not touch the glass, after all how do the bar staff take out the glasses form the glass washer, some use the bottom of the glass whilst others use the top of the glass, plus the fact in top restaurants and bars glasses are also polished by hand to remove any watermarks (I know this as I worked in the hospitality industry many years ago). All cutlery and plates are handled by other people before your food is brought to your table. We assume that people wash their hands appropriately but we should not be complacent about it, as with what is going on today you would think people would take appropriate measures to protect themselves and others but this not always the case, as how come so many people have died from this virus if everyone was a germ freak like me and I for one do not want to take that risk of not sanitising something before I use it.
Its ironic how people used to mock my OCD and now everyone is doing literally what I have been doing all along for many years now.
I avoid public transport with a passion, the amount of times I have been brushed by someone has made me fell so uncomfortable. So now I avoid public transport all together. If you are going to use Taxi’s consider the car door handles, they have germs and paying with cash. Cash has germs.
***Also why are we being told to avoid crowded public places, so why is it the schools, colleges and universities are still open and why can parents not self isolate and not take their children to school if they are concerned about the implications? Boris Johnson needs to do something quick time and not wait for it to be too late.
We should also ask ourselves if this virus was genetically engineered, then the inventor/scientist would have an antidote, he would not make the virus airborne risking his and his families lives. If this is genetically engineered biological warfare, we also have to ask ourselves why has this happened?
Your welcome to share your thoughts on this and I will respond to the most relevant of comments.
My final thoughts, my daughter who has a low immune system due to a treatment she had last August for ‘Multiple Sclerosis’ has just asked the NHS MS Team today 13/01/20 if she is safe and the person on the other end of the phone simply played it down and said there is nothing to worry about as we are all in the same boat so to speak and we all have the same chances of contracting the virus.
‘Rhianon’ from the MS Team Cardiff just said take the same precautions as everyone else and avoid crowded public places. Well what is a hospital if not a crowded public place, but my daughter has to have her bloods tested every month. ‘Rhianon’ went on to say well we write down your bloods every month, well that is so comforting to know (not – sarcasm on my part), considering she seemed complacent about the scenario. For her sake I hope my daughter is OK as I have a name now and i’m good at standing my ground and fighting battles.
Someone needs to be held responsible for this! If as some are saying the virus originated from a wet market selling illegal tropical animals in Wuhan, we have to ask the question the chinese have not overnight starting selling this type of produce and they have been doing it for centuries so for anyone to believe this is slighlty on the naive side. Remember the media have to give an explanation and its up to us to believe it or not…………. I prefer not to.
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